The book includes stories by the classic Russian detective, Leningrad writer Stanislav Vasilyevich Rodionov (1931–2010). The exciting plots of his detective stories are based not on chases and murders, but on unusual crimes committed by extraordinary criminals. And they are confronted by the same unusual investigator, a master of subtle psychological interrogation, the author’s constant hero - investigator Sergei Georgievich Ryabinin. Two stories “Criminal Talent” and “Cambrian Clay” were filmed. The first - in 1988, directed by Sergei Ashkenazi, starring: Alexey Zharkov, Alexandra Zakharova, Igor Nefedov; the second (titled “Silent Consequence”) - in 1986, directed by Alexander Pashovkin, starring: Alexey Buldakov, Vladimir Kuznetsov, Mikhail Danilov.